Fashion and Intellectual Property

A meticulously curated collection of how intellectual property laws interact with contemporary fashion and cultural studies in protecting fashion designs.

David Tan (Edited by), Jeanne Fromer (Edited by), Dev Gangjee (Edited by)

9781009519601, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 November 2025

382 pages
28 x 19 x 2.6 cm, 0.73 kg

'Not just for fashionistas! Like a delicately woven fabric, this book offers a complex pattern of legal, economic and sociological aspects of fashion law, vividly detailed and rich in background information, presented by a panel of eminent scholars. A real page-turner!' Annette Kur, Professor and Affiliated Research Fellow, Department of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

Fashion is a multi-billion-dollar global business, which is not surprising because of our basic need to wear clothes and shoes. The fashion system thrives on ephemerality, novelty, seduction and hedonism. There are countless books on intellectual property law, numerous books on fashion theory, and a few books on fashion law, but hardly any on fashion and intellectual property. This book assembles a constellation of some of the best-known intellectual property scholars around the world to present their analysis of how different aspects of intellectual property laws interact with and regulate the fashion industry. It presents a meticulously curated collection of how intellectual property laws interact with contemporary fashion and culture studies in protecting fashion creations that range from clothing and footwear to textiles. It covers key features of intellectual property rights regimes in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and Asia that include copyright, trademarks, patents and geographical indications. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Part I. Theoretical Frameworks: 1. Fashion, post-postmodernism and intellectual property David Tan
2. Intellectual property law and the dream of post-scarcity society Barton Beebe
Part II. Intellectual Property Rights – Copyright, Trade Marks, Patents and Registered Designs: 3. Fashion's function in intellectual property law Christopher Buccafusco and Jeanne C. Fromer
4. Shape trade marks are in fashion: a study of footwear and sneakers in Australia Vicki Huang
5. Non-Traditional trade marks (NTTMs), distinctiveness and the fashion industry Susanna H. S. Leong and Irene Calboli
6. Utility patents and the fashion industry Roger Allan Ford
7. Barriers to enforcing design rights over fashion in the United Kingdom Robert Burrell and Emily Hudson
Part III. Current Trends: 8. Fashion upcycling and trademark infringement – a circular economy/freedom of the arts approach Martin Senftleben
9. Shanzhai fashion and intellectual property in China Jyh-An Lee and Jingwen Liu
Part IV. Looking Ahead: 10. Threads that last: geographical indications for textiles Dev S. Gangjee
11. Culture appropriation and the global fashion industry Kal Raustiala and Christopher Jon Sprigman
Index.

Subject Areas: Intellectual property law [LNR]